Krist Novoselic’s new band releases “Sasquatch”

Giants in the Trees romp through the forest in the video for their debut song
By David Sands
August 1, 2017

Krist Novoselic’s new band, Giants in the Trees, have just released the video for their debut tune, “Sasquatch.”

The no-frills video features members of the band sojourning through the woods, tromping through the undergrowth, striking poses and at times just plain fooling around. Near the end, there’s also some footage of them playing at a music venue.

Equal parts folk-rock, alt-rock and blues-rock, “Sasquatch” is anchored by Novoselic’s punchy bass playing. Sultry-voiced vocalist-banjo player Jillian Raye also does wonderful work bringing the song home with her memorable delivery of spooky lyrics like: “I can feel eyes watching over me/ Hiding in the silence/There’s giants in the trees.”

Krist is also credited as an accordion player with the band, so let’s hope the rock quartet releases some of their more accordion-driven songs in the near future.

Giants in the Trees, which along with Novoselic and Raye also includes guitarist and harmonica player Ray Prestegard and drummer Erik Friend, came together in 2015 as a result of them all being environmentalists and members of the Grange, a community-oriented organization with its roots in agricultural advocacy. The group’s Facebook page describes their genesis thusly:

“The band first met for a casual jam in the Skamokawa Grange Hall last spring. The players wasted no time at all composing their first two songs on that first day. They were hooked to the music and a band was born.”

As for the video, Novoselic offers some characteristically ridiculous insight into its origins in the comments section of its YouTube page.

“I bought the property the video is filmed on. To pay for the production I cut all the trees and am now building a golf course on the land,” he says. “This video cost over $2 million to make. The reason is, it was shot on a soundstage and all of the flora is made from plastic, foam and other materials to get that natural look.”

Giants in the Trees will be playing several shows in Washington and Oregon over the coming month.